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THE  EVOLUTION 

OF  PSYCHIC 

HEALING 


BY 


HARMON  H.  McQUILKIN 


PRESS  OF  MUIRSON  &  WRIGHT 

SAN  JOSE,  CALIFORNIA 

1909 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/evolutionofpsychOOmcqurich 


The  Evolution  of  Psychic 
Healing. 


'Tjj'TlSTORY  is  a  wise  teacher,  a  true  prophet,  a 
TFtj  faithful  counselor.  With  all  thy  reading,  there- 
>  fore,  read  history,  for  thereby  thou  shalt  become 
old  without  becoming  infirm ;  some  sixty  centuries 
through  it  shall  drop  the  mantle  of  their  wisdom  on 
thee,  and  of  their  sowing  thou  shalt  reap !  History 
repeats  itself,  sure  enough,  for  it  is  nothing  else 
than  a  composite  biography  of  the  genus  homo,  in 
which  all  the  fundamental  qualities  and  experiences 
are  constant,  no  matter  in  what  temporal  or  territorial 
position  they  may  appear.  Life-principles,  life-cur- 
rents, life-experiences  move  pretty  much  in  undula- 
tions. So  the  future  will  be  essentially  like  the  past. 
The  variations  will  be  more  or  less  on  the  surface. 
The  moon  will  change,  almanacs  and  calendars  will 
become  obsolete,  styles  in  dress  and  phrase  drapery 
and  methods  of  work  and  play  will  move  through 
spiral  circles ;  but  the  constitution  of  man  will  not  be 
amended  by  even  a  majority  vote,  neither  will  the 
forces  and  principles  of  the  universe  be  turned  back- 
ward or  aside.  Very  well ;  then  the  things  that  most 
deeply  concern  mankind,  the  staples  of  life,  know  no 
tenses  or  moods ;  the  future  is  the  past  that  remains 
to  be  enacted,  and  the  past  is  the  future  we  face  with 
our  back  which  is  only  the  converse  of  us.  History 
has,  consequently,  an  oracular  voice  in  which  destiny 
can  be  read. 

186989 


The  student  of  history  discovers  a  law  underlying 
the  undulating  motions  of  human  thought  which  is 
known  as  the  law  of  recurrence.  In  accordance  with 
it,  attention,  interest,  enthusiasm  and  allegiance  tend 
to  swing  back  and  forth  like  the  pendulum  of  the  old 
hall  clock  between  different  and  even  conflicting  in- 
terpretations and  applications  of  world-facts  and 
world-forces.  The  tide  of  individual  and  race  interest 
ebbs  and  flows.  It  has  always  been  so,  it  will  con- 
tinue to  be  so ;  two  psychological  facts  produce  this 
perpetual  motion  in  mental  mechanics — the  natural 
aversion  to  monotony  which  familiarity  produces, 
and  on  the  other  hand,  the  increasing  tyranny  of  cus- 
tom, popular  opinion  and  human  authority,  growing 
finally  into  intolerance  and  over-pressure,  from  which 
wholesale  revolt  is  inevitable  sooner  or  later. 

Now  such  a  fluctuation  is  illustrated  in  the  regular 
swing  between  idealism  and  materialism,  the  one 
reading  the  literature  of  being  in  terms  of  spirit,  the 
other  in  terms  of  matter.  The  tide  of  idealistic  inter- 
pretation has  come  in  with  such  thinkers  as  Plato, 
Plotinus,  Berkeley,  Kant ;  and  has  gone  out  with  the 
coming  of  such  as  Epicurus,  Zeno,  Spencer,  Haeckel. 
Today  there  is  a  widespread  and  thoroughgoing  re- 
volt against  materialism  with  its  "  Gospel  of  Dirt " 
according  to  Carlyle.  And  one  of  the  forms  in  which 
this  revolt  manifests  itself  is  in  the  strenuous  applica- 
tion of  psychical  forces  for  the  manipulation  and 
alteration  of  physical  conditions.  Mind  has  gone  up 
a  good  many  points  in  the  intellectual  stock  exchange, 
while  matter  is  away  down  below  par  and  selling 
slow.  Thought-force  has  suddenly  become  a  popular 
therapeutic  agency. 

But  the  suddenness  has  to  do  only  with  the  popu- 
larity. The  method  is  not  new.  Trace  its  path  through 
the  centuries — it  is  there.  Stand  on  the  long  white 
beach  of  history  and  watch  the  tides  of  psychic  su- 
premacy come  and  go.    On  the  loom  of  investigation 

-3- 


let  us  weave  the  historical  context  of  such  movements 
as  "  Christian  Science/'  "  Faith  Cure,"  and  the  "  Em- 
manuel Movement,"  and  we  shall  see  that  they  are  in 
all  essentials  hoary  with  age. 

^[^t  JE  are  told  by  historians  that  the  ancient  Chin- 
14  |  ese  were  familiar  with  the  theory  and  practice 
of  mental  healing.  The  old  Egyptian  monu- 
ments bear  witness  to  the  same  fact  for  that  land. 
The  Hebrews  were  not  unaware  of  its  principles,  for 
one  of  their  poets  said  a  thousand  years  before  Christ, 
"My  bones   wax  old   through    my  groaning  all    day 

long," "My  moisture  is  changed  as  with  the 

drought  of  summer," "  My  strength  is  dried 

up  like  a  potsherd,  and  my  tongue  cleaveth  to  my 
jaws,"  saying  as  plainly  as  words  can  do  that  mental 
depression  had  kindled  fires  of  fever  in  his  blood. 
A  Hebrew  scientist,  philosopher,  sage,  said,  "A  merry 
heart  is  a  good  medicine,  but  a  broken  spirit  drieth 
up  the  bones/'  Homer  sang  of  Aesculapius,  whom 
the  Greeks  afterwards  elevated  to  the  circle  of  the 
gods  as  the  god  of  healing.  Temples  for  his  worship 
stood  outside  the  chief  cities  of  Greece;  and  even 
Pergamum  and  Rome  were  not  without  them.  In 
these  temples  multitudes  of  sick  and  infirm  were 
cured  of  their  diseases  by  purely  psychic  means,  and 
as  an  expression  of  their  gratitude  and  veneration 
covered  the  temple  walls  with  tablets  whereon  are 
inscribed  the  name  of  the  person,  the  disease,  and 
the  cure.     Many  of  these  tablets  are  extant  today. 

In  the  days  of  Christ,  the  esoteric  sect  or  fraternity 
known  as  the  "  Essenes  "  flourished  among  the  Jews, 
and  while  much  of  their  history  is  wrapped  in  ob- 
scurity, this  much  is  sure,  that  they  were  extreme 
ascetics,  despising  things  material,  and  "  by  the  im- 
position of  hands  and  certain  whisperings,  they  healed 

-4— 


the  sick.**  Yet  Christ  did  not  ally  himself  with  them, 
nor  do  his  recorded  utterances  contain  the  slightest 
reference  to  them.     He  simply  ignored  them. 

In  the  first  century  there  arose  in  the  very  heart  of 
the  apostolic  church  a  sect  called  "  Gnostics.**  They 
were  cultured  and  clamorous.  It  was  their  proud 
boast  that  while  the  apostles  and  plain  Christians 
were  satisfied  with  the  letter  of  Scripture,  they  had 
gone  below  the  letter  and  were  regaling  their  souls  on 
the  spirit  that  yielded  its  message  to  their  superior 
spiritual  illumination.  They  said  the  orthodox  church 
followed  "  blind  faith,**  whereas  they  alone  had 
"  knowledge,**  hence  their  name.  Their  interpretation 
of  the  Bible  was  astoundingly  allegorical.  They  first 
put  their  own  meaning  on  the  words  of  Scripture, 
without  regard  to  the  laws  of  language  or  historical 
usage,  and  then  proceeded  naively  to  read  their  mes- 
sage back.  The  vicious  circle  with  a  vengeance ! 
And  not  without  modern  exemplification  !  Like  the 
Essenes,  they  looked  upon  matter  as  evil  and  sought 
in  every  way  by  denial  and  repudiation,  to  be  freed 
from  its  dominion.  According  to  Iraneus  and  other 
ancient  Church  Fathers,  two  results  followed  among 
the  Gnostics — asceticism  and  sensualism,  the  first 
when  the  flush  of  victory  over  matter  was  upon  them; 
the  last  when  the  conquest  had  to  be  repeated  again 
and  again  until  the  despair  of  full  and  final  victory  by 
the  weapons  of  denial  had  throttled  hope,  so  that 
they  gave  matter  up  for  a  hopeless  case  and  let  it  take 
its  own  course.  That  kind  of  history,  also,  is  likely  to 
repeat  itself,  gentle  reader.  But  the  Gnostics  practiced 
psychic  healing,  and  so  successful  were  they  that  their 
ranks  swelled  until  they  had  well  nigh  swept  the 
whole  Christian  church,  and  it  took  two  hundred 
years  for  the  inadequacy  and  the  viciousness  of  their 
philosophy  to  make  themselves  clear  to  the  popular 
mind.  Paul  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  to 
refute  their  errors.     John's  first  epistle  was  directed 

-5- 


against  their  sophistries,  while  the  message  to  the 
Church  at  Laodicea  was  for  the  purpose  of  saving 
that  congregation  from  the  deadly  virus  of  their  pagan 
teachings.  But  all  seemed  to  be  in  vain,  and  multi- 
tudes of  Christians  had  to  learn  in  the  bitter  school  of 
experience,  as  a  lot  are  now  doing. 

AMONG  the  Jews,  there  sprang  up  a  cult  known 
as  "  Cabbalists,"  who  claimed  that  Moses  re- 
ceived an  inner  and  mystical  interpretation  of 
the  law  which  he  committed  to  Joshua,  and  he  in  turn 
to  the  Seventy  Elders,  who  in  their  turn  passed  it  on 
down  through  a  select  circle  of  Jews  from  generation 
to  generation.  Like  the  Gnostics  they  arrogated  to 
themselves  the  exclusive  right  to  be  considered  the 
cultured  thinkers  of  their  day,  and  practiced  the  heal- 
ing of  diseases  by  incantations.  Cornelius  Agrippa  in 
the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  wrote  a 
treatise  on  the  principles  of  this  cult,  entitled,  "  De 
Occulta  Philosophia,"  a  reprint  of  which  it  was  my 
pleasure  to  see  not  long  since.  The  story  of  their 
career  reads  like  romance  for  fascination. 

The  little  town  of  Lourdes  in  southern  France 
leaped  into  world-wide  notoriety  a  half  a  century  ago 
through  the  cures  wrought  there  in  the  waters  that 
flow  from  a  grotto  near  the  place.  The  fabled  visit  of 
the  Virgin  brought  cures  which,  while  they  were  fully 
certified  as  to  their  occurrence  and  extraordinary  char- 
acter by  France's  most  acute  and  learned  scientists 
and  physicians,  none  of  whom  were  glad  to  make 
their  findings,  still  filled  the  world  with  utter  amaze- 
ment. Time  would  fail  us  to  tell  of  St.  Patrick's  cures, 
of  St.  Bernard's,  of  those  wrought  by  means  of  Catholic 
relics,  many  of  which  are  far  from  legendary  in  their 
character.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  all  of  them  were 
wrought  through  psychotherapy. 

-6- 


But  if  the  ancient  days  witnessed  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  psychic  healing,  so  likewise  have  the  days  of 
modern  times.  Amulets  and  fetiches  are  used  in 
other  parts  of  the  world  than  Africa,  mind  you ;  nor 
are  they  without  prophylactic  and  therapeutic  power, 
for  they  are  strong  objective  suggestions,  whether  in 
the  form  of  a  potato  carried  in  the  pocket,  a  little 
bag  of  asafetida  worn  about  the  neck,  or  a  bit  of  bone 
or  ivory. 

The  Buddhists  practice  psychotherapy.  Their 
priests  are  the  main  operators  and  follow  the  general 
lines  of  our  American  "  Faith  Cure H  healers,  ac- 
complishing astonishing  results  in  the  healing  of  many 
forms  of  disease.  They  say  to  the  patient  "  You  must 
have  faith  in  God,"  and  sometimes  they  give  him  a 
cake  to  eat  after  it  has  been  devoted,  thus  giving  a 
tangible  suggestive  factor  to  the  whole  transaction. 

We  Occidentals  are  mere  children  in  the  manipu- 
lation of  psychic  healing  when  brought  into  com- 
parison and  competition  with  the  Indian  theosophists. 
Their  whole  framework  of  thought  has  been  for  many 
centuries  immersed  in  mysticism,  until  their  very  words 
drip  with  the  delicious,  dreamy  accents  of  that  upper, 
or  under,  world ;  so  that,  whereas  our  western  healers 
are  just  entering  the  portals  of  the  preparatory  school 
of  psychotherapy,  their  Indian  Yogis  are  well  on  in 
their  post-graduate  course.  In  my  library  I  have  a 
handbook  on  the  subject  by  Yogi  Ramacharaka  which 
is  a  marvel  of  conciseness  and  completeness  as  such. 
It  does  not  pretend  to  enter  the  domain  of  philosophy 
but  confines  itself  to  a  setting  forth  of  the  most  ap- 
proved methods  of  treating  various  diseases  by  psy- 
chic methods.  For  centuries  mental  therapeutics  has 
made  its  home  on  India's  soil,  and  the  methods  there 
in  operation  are  imitated  closely  by  several  of  our 
American  cults. 


-7- 


JN  America  today  there  are  at  least  six  methods 
of  mental  healing  in  vogue.  Each  one  of  the 
six  works  cures.  Any  one  of  the  six  methods 
can  exactly  duplicate  any  cure  effected  by  any  of  the 
other  five.  Yet  all  six  are  quarreling  among  them- 
selves, after  the  manner  of  the  proverbial  Irish  family. 
But  if  their  cures  are  identical,  why  should  they  quar- 
rel with  each  other  ?  Here  is  the  explanation  of  it. 
Every  axe  has  two  parts — a  blade  and  a  head,  and 
these  systems  of  psychic  healing  are  in  this  regard  like 
an  axe,  not  necessarily  like  a  meat-axe.  The  blade  of 
the  axe  in  these  systems  is  the  psychological  principle 
called  suggestion — SUGGESTION,  I  say,  or  the  rising 
inflection  in  the  grammar  of  determination.  'Now,  it 
is  the  blade  of  the  axe,  that  does  the  cutting ;  the  head 
serves  two  purposes,  viz :  to  give  the  blade  momentum 
and  to  knock  with.  The  blade  of  the  axe  is  exactly, 
precisely,  unambiguously,  organically,  the  same  in 
every  one  of  these  six  systems.  Will  you  please  put 
a  pin  there  ?  Suggestion  is  the  axe-blade  that  does 
the  work  of  healing  every  time  and  it  is  never  done 
by  anything  else.  And  because  every  one  of  the  six 
systems  has  the  axe-blade  of  suggestion  they  all  heal 
diseases.  They  may  deny  it,  they  may  wax  indignant 
over  the  intimation,  they  may  fulminate  in  magazines 
with  long  articles  having  big  blue  pencil  marks  about 
them,  they  may  buy  space  in  the  daily  press  to  say  it 
isn't  so  and  it  is  all  very  wicked  to  suppose  it  to  be 
so  ;  but  the  fact  remains  that  it  is  so.  The  head  of  the  axe 
is  the  philosophy  that  lies  behind  the  therapeutical 
method.  The  head  is  different  in  every  one  of  the  six 
methods,  and  that  is  why  they  quarrel.  But  since  the 
head  is  of  no  real  value  in  this  realm  of  psychic  heal- 
ing except  to  drive  the  blade,  and  since  the  blade  of 
suggestion  is  so  keen  that  it  needs  little  or  no  head- 
weight  to  drive  it,  we  are  not  in  the  least  concerned 
with  the  quarrel.  To  remember  this  simple  illustration 
of  the  axe  will  be  to  escape  from  a  good  many  of  the 

~8— 


perplexities  caused  by  the  Babel  voices  that  clamor 
on  all  sides. 

The  first  of  these  six  methods  we  mention  is  the 
'  Mind  Cure  "  method.  The  Indian  theosophists  call 
it  "  Thought  Force  Healing."  The  theory  back  of  it  is 
that  every  cell,  nerve,  organ,  of  the  body  has  a  mind ; 
the  central  mind  is  the  will  mind  and  must  control  the 
cell,  nerve  or  organ  minds,  accomplishing  normal 
functioning  of  the  various  parts  of  the  body  through 
them.  In  some  instances,  the  theory  goes  no  further 
than  to  assume  that  every  physical  ailment  springs 
from  a  mental  or  moral  twist  which  must  be  corrected, 
and  when  it  is  corrected  the  consequent  physical 
disturbance  will  pass  away.  The  "  Home  of  Truth  " 
cult  holds  substantially  to  this  philosophy.  That  is  the 
head  of  the  axe.  The  blade  of  the  axe  is  the  sugges- 
tion made  to  the  patient  that  the  mental  or  moral 
twist  has  been  or  is  being  corrected  and  the  ailment  is 
consequently  passing.     And  it  is  the  blade  that  cuts. 

The  second  method  is  "  Spiritualism."  Head  of 
the  axe — the  spirits  of  the  departed  exercise  their 
power  for  the  relief  of  the  ailment  either  directly  or 
through  the  medium.  Blade  of  the  axe — they  have 
exercised  this  power  or  are  now  exercising  it  and  the 
disease  is  going,  is  gone,  and  health  has  succeeded. 

Third,  we  remark  "  Mesmerism."  The  Indian  theo- 
sophists call  this  "  Pranic  Healing,"  and  use  it  probably 
more  than  any  other  method.  They  operate  by  "  Dist- 
ant Pranic  Healing"  a  great  deal  and  with  splendid 
results.  That  is,  of  course,  the  counterpart  of  "  absent 
treatment "  as  we  know  it  in  this  country.  Mesmerism 
is  popularly  known  as  "  Magnetic  Healing."  Its  axe- 
head  is  the  theory  that  a  cosmic  fluid  pervades  the 
universe  in  general  and  the  human  body  in  particular, 
which  may  be  projected  by  the  healer  into  the  body 
of  the  diseased  person,  lifting  him  on  the  tide  of  this 
vital  fluid  above  the  jagged  rocks  of  disease.  The 
axe-blade   is  the   suggestion   that  the   fluid   has  been 

-9- 


duly  projected,  the  tide  of  vital  fluid  has  risen  and 
that  the  disease  with  its  symptoms  is  gone  or  rapidly 
going.  There  is  a  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance 
who  was  cured  of  inflammatory  rheumatism  in  four 
days  with  four  of  these  treatments  eight  years  ago 
after  three  physicians  said  he  could  not  get  well,  and 
he  has  never  had  the  slightest  return  of  the  disease. 
And  yet  the  operator  was  a  rough,  swearing,  drinking 
fellow,  who  laid  no  claim  to  either  ethical  or  religious 
excellence. 

^TTHR  fourth  method  of  psychic  healing  we  mention 
\fl  is  "  Christian  Science,"  or  more  properly,  "  Eddy- 
ism."  The  head  of  the  axe  here  is  the  philo- 
sophy that  matter  is  unreal,  that  only  mind  exists. 
The  phrases  run  on  without  head  or  tail  and  remind 
one  of  a  bushel  of  beans  thrown  into  a  bag.  It  does 
not  matter  where  one  begins  or  quits  or  in  which 
direction  one  goes,  the  sense  is  just  the  same — all 
nonsense.  This  axe-head  is  not  new,  much  as  many 
of  our  friends  would  persuade  us  that  it  is.  The 
Buddhists  and  Essenes  and  Gnostics,  and  Theosophists 
have  been  swinging  it  for  centuries  unnumbered. 
The  Eddyist  principle  of  Biblical  interpretation  is 
identical  with  that  of  the  Gnostics  and  Cabbalists. 
They  may  deny  it  ever  so  vociferously  but  the  fact  re- 
mains. But  it  is  not  this  philosophic  axe-head  that 
cures :  it  is  the  blade.  But  what  is  the  blade  in  Chris- 
tian Science  ?  The  suggestion  persistently  dinned  into 
the  patient's  ears  on  this  wise :  "  You  are  not  sick. 
There  is  no  matter :  God  is  All :  God  is  Spirit,  Mind  : 
Spirit  is  All :  Deny  sin,  sickness  and  death.  Your 
sickness  is  a  delusion  of  mortal  mind.  You  are  well." 
The  same  old  shining  blade  of  suggestion.  The  sug- 
gestive principle  of  Eddyism  is  psychologically  scien- 
tific :  the  philosophy  of  it  is  absurd ;  the  religion  of  it 

-10- 


is  pagan.  The  pagan  message  has  been  forced  into 
the  Scriptures  and  then  read  out,  the  Master's  words 
have  been  compelled  to  bear  their  own  cross  to  the 
place  of  their  crucifixion.  In  a  Western  city  a  promi- 
nent Christian  Science  healer  was  accidentally  over- 
heard to  say  to  another  Christian  Scientist,  "  God ! 
God  ! — There's  no  God  in  it.  It's  nothing  but  Mind,  and 
you  know  it.  The  notions  a  lot  of  these  people  have 
when  they  come  to  us  disgust  me ! "  The  person,  who 
was  at  that  time  a  follower  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  rushed  away 
to  a  healer  in  the  place  and  in  amazement  reported 
what  had  been  heard.  "  Did  you  hear  that  ?  "  inquired 
the  healer.  "I  certainly  did,"  replied  the  person.  "I 
am  very  sorry  you  have  advanced  so  rapidly,"  was  the 
astounding  response  from  the  healer.  On  the  rocks 
of  such  incidents,  which  could  be  multiplied  in- 
definitely, the  claim  of  Christian  Science  to  anything 
Christian  or  even  theistic  must  go  to  pieces.  It  has 
been  pointed  out  by  one  writer  that  the  word  "  God  " 
may  be  marked  out  of  "  Science  and  Health  "  every- 
where it  occurs  without  the  slightest  effect  on  the  mes- 
sage of  that  book.  Volumes  of  pious  verbiage  piled 
up  in  meaningless  heaps  cannot  change  the  foundation 
facts ;  interminable  lectures  calculated  to  darken  coun- 
sel cannot  make  black  into  white.  I  have  never  yet 
heard  a  lecture  on  Christian  Science,  altho  I  have 
heard  a  good  many  lectures  by  Christian  Scientists. 
They  always  lecture  on  first  century  Christianity  and 
then  unblushingly  tell  their  audiences  that  is  Christian 
Science.  The  whole  transaction  "  demonstrates  "  nerve 
power. 

The  fifth  method  is  "  Faith  Cure,"  which  would  be 
more  accurately  styled  "  Prayer  Cure,"  for  faith  is  es- 
sential to  every  method  of  psychotherapy.  Of  course, 
it  makes  no  particular  difference  in  what  the  faith  is 
put,  whether  in  God,  or  a  healer,  or  an  abstract  pro- 
position, or  an  amulet ;  but  there  must  be  faith,  con- 
fidence, before  there  be  any  cure.     In  passing  it  may 

—11- 


be  said  that  the  object  of  faith  determines  its  quality 
and  results,  ethically  and  religiously,  but  not  physically. 
This  is  something  that  should  be  remembered.  The 
Indian  theosophists  call  this  kind  of  healing  "  Spiritual 
Healing."  The  Lourdes  cures  fall  at  least  in  part  here. 
Those  of  the  notorious  John  Alexander  Dowie  like- 
wise rank  as  faith  cures,  and  there  were  thousands  of 
them — ilthough  he  was  a  monster,  ethically  and  re- 
ligiously. Here  fall  the  cures  wrought  in  a  good  many 
Christian  missions  and  in  many  churches.  Strange  as 
it  may  seem  to  many,  this  method  of  psychotherapy 
is  no  different  from  the  other  five  in  that  it  is  an  axe 
with  a  head  and  a  blade,  as  any  one  can  easily  see 
by  examination.  The  axe-head  is  the  declaration  that 
disease,  as  well  as  sin,  was  included  in  Christ's  aton- 
ing sacrifice,  and  that  Christians  are  bound  to  claim 
exemption  from  disease  as  from  sin,  or  by  their  re- 
fusal to  dishonor  their  Savior.  Prayer  for  the  healing 
of  disease  must,  therefore,  have  no  element  of  con- 
tingency in  it  on  the  part  of  the  petitioner.  It  is 
assumed  that  it  is  always  God's  will  to  heal  the  dis- 
eases of  Christians,  so  the  prayer  for  the  healing  must 
be  a  sort  of  sight  draft  which  must  be  paid  on  pre- 
sentation without  demur.  Of  course  Paul's  "  thorn  in 
the  flesh  "  is  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  this  theory,  but  it 
isn't  the  first  time  facts  have  had  to  stand  aside  for 
theories.  So  much  for  the  head  of  this  axe,  which, 
whether  it  be  true  or  false,  whether  it  manifests  faith 
or  presumption,  does  not  do  the  cutting.  The  blade 
that  does  do  the  cutting  is  the  same  regulation  blade 
of  psychic  suggestion,  which  operates  on  this  wise  : 
"  You  have  prayed  for  healing :  you  have  prayed  in 
faith :  God  has  heard  your  prayer :  it  is  His  sovereign 
will  that  you  should  be  well :  now  you  must  claim  the 
answer :  your  prayer  has  been  answered — you  are  re- 
covering, recovering — you  are  well !  "  There  you  have  the 
suggestion  of  health  and  that  is  what  does  the  work 
every  time. 

-12- 


^TT  HE  sixth  and  last  method  is  what  we  may  call 
\j]j  "Suggestive  Hypnotism."  There  are  many 
shades  and  grades  in  this  general  system.  The 
famous  Nancy  institution  where  Bernheim  and  his 
colleagues  turn  out  multitudes  every  year  made  well 
of  their  diseases  belongs  under  this  class.  Braid  was 
one  of  the  pioneers  in  its  perfecting  and  application. 
Prof.  Hudson  in  his  "  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena " 
anticipated  practically  all  we  find  in  any  of  the  latest 
varieties  of  this  method.  Dubois,  the  illustrious  neur- 
ologist of  Berne  operates  by  it  with  gratifying  results. 
Dr.  Schofield,  the  great  English  psychologist  and  phy- 
sician, is  an  expert  in  the  use  of  it  and  has  written 
many  books  explaining  and  commending  it  to  the 
confidence  of  the  medical  profession.  Dr.  S.  Weir 
Mitchell,  the  renowned  physician  of  Philadelphia  and 
a  life-long  friend  of  Phillips  Brooks,  uses  this  method 
a  good  deal  in  his  practice.  One  of  the  most  interest- 
ing individual  operators  in  this  line  is  a  physician  in 
St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  by  the  name  of  Bell,  who  is  reputed 
to  be  able  to  accomplish  marvels  in  the  way  of  heal- 
ing by  pure  suggestion.  Last  but  not  least,  here  the 
"  Emmanuel  Movement  "  takes  its  rank,  although  there 
are  elements  in  its  philosophy  that  come  very  close  to 
"  Faith  Cure."  Still,  its  increasing  reliance  on  scien- 
tific initiative  and  direction,  as  well  as  the  general 
trend  of  its  practice,  would  seem  to  point  to  "Sug- 
gestive Hypnotism  "  as  its  logical  dwelling  place.  The 
axe-head  is  the  psychological  hypothesis  that  the  hu- 
man body  consists  of  two  parts  or  sections — objective 
and  subjective,  conscious  and  subconscious,  conscious 
and  coconscious,  supraliminal  and  subliminal — indeed 
there  are  many  terms  used  to  distinguish  the  two. 
The  "  sub  "  or  "  co  "  is  supposed  to  be  the  arbiter  of 
the  physical  fortunes  of  the  individual.  The  biography 
of  this  mysterious  partner  runs  with  as  much  thrill  as 
the  tale  of  the  "Arabian  Nights."  It  does  not  reason 
or  initiate,  but  takes  the  ball  from  the  hands  of  the 


—13— 


"  objective  "  "  center  rush  M  as  an  expert  "  half  back." 
The  difficult  thing  for  the  ordinary  individual  is  to 
get  into  communication  with  this  part  of  the  mind 
that  is  like  the  part  of  the  ship  below  the  water  line. 
You  have  to  have  a  written  order  from  the  office  be- 
fore you  can  gain  admittance ;  but  once  get  in,  and 
you  can  have  almost  anything  you  want  for  the  ask- 
ing. This  mental  basement  is  full  of  good  things — 
health,  happiness,  achievement  in  love  and  scholarship 
and  business  (so  the  Christian  Scientists  say,  at  least) 
and  even  sainthood,  we  are  told.  It  makes  one  gasp 
for  breath  just  to  hear  about  it.  But  the  stairway ! 
That  too  has  been  arranged.  The  "suggestor"  will 
guide  you  gently  down — awake  if  you  are  not  ob- 
streperous, in  the  dreamy  state  of  "  mental  abstraction" 
if  you  are  tolerably  tractable,  in  the  deep  sleep  of 
complete  "  hypnosis "  if  necessary — but  you  can  go 
down  if  you  will  follow  his  directions.  Prof.  William 
James  of  Harvard,  who  is  one  of  the  trusted  advisors 
of  Dr.  Worcester  in  the  "  Emmanuel  Movement,"  tells 
us  that  the  anaesthetic  power  of  suggestion  is  so  great 
that  legs  and  breasts  may  be  amputated,  children 
born,  teeth  extracted,  etc.,  positively  without  pain  with 
its  use  alone.  Functional  diseases,  which  include 
those  where  there  is  an  interruption  of  the  normal 
workings  of  an  organ  without  any  appreciable  change 
in  its  structure,  especially  those  of  a  nervous  char- 
acter, are  said  to  yield  in  almost  every  instance  to  this 
suggestive  treatment.  As  to  the  power  of  suggestion 
to  cure  organic  diseases,  which  are  those  where  an 
organ  is  broken  down  structurally,  there  is  a  wide 
difference  of  opinion.  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  says,  "  No 
organic  disease  was  ever  cured  by  it,  and  its  legitimate 
uses  are  circumscribed."  Dr.  Cabot  analyzes  one 
hundred  alleged  Christian  Science  cures  about  Boston, 
and  having  traced  them  back  in  their  history,  finds 
them  to  be  composed  in  nearly  every  case  of  purely 
functional  ailments.     Prof.  Dubois,  Dr.  Worcester  and 

-14- 


his  colleagues,  and  nearly  the  entire  medical  profes- 
sion confine  its  efficiency  to  the  same  sphere.  On  the 
other  hand,  Dr.  Schofield  is  inclined  strongly  to  the 
opposite  opinion,  and  argues  that  the  distinction  be- 
tween functional  and  organic  diseases  is  after  all 
rather  a  gratuitous  one,  as  disturbed  work  in  an  organ 
is  pretty  conclusive  evidence  that  there  is  a  disturb- 
ance of  the  tissue  composing  the  organ.  In  his  late 
work,  "The  Mental  Factor  in  Medicine/*  he  quotes 
liberally  from  several  noted  physicians  of  the  regular 
school  in  vindication  of  his  position.  From  Dr.  Tuke 
he  gives  this  list  of  diseases  as  having  been  cured  by 
suggestion  without  hypnotism:  "Toothache,  sciatica, 
painful  joints,  rheumatism,  gout,  plurodyma,  colic, 
epilepsy,  whooping  cough,  contracted  limbs,  para- 
lyses, headache,  neuralgias,  constipation,  asthma,  warts, 
scurvy,  dropsy,  intermittent  fevers,  and  often  impend- 
ing death."  The  Christian  Scientists  attempt  both 
classes  of  disease  and  are  now  engaged  in  a  contro- 
versy with  the  leaders  of  the  Emmanual  Movement 
over  the  matter. 

Dr.  Bell  is  said  to  be  able  to  cure  exophthalmic 
goiter  in  from  three  to  four  days  with  nothing  but 
suggestion.  The  last  word  on  this  point  has  not  been 
spoken  yet.  But  under  and  through  all  the  forms  and 
varieties  of  this  sixth  system  of  psychic  healing,  the 
axe-blade  is  the  same  psychic  principle  of  suggestion. 
Watch  it  cut — "  There  are  subliminal  reservoirs  within 
you  from  which  you  may  draw  health,  if  you  will  but 
tap  them  ;  these  hidden  resources  are  yours  to  use : 
they  are  flowing  in  on  your  life  now ;  they  are  lifting 
you ;  you  are  not  weary ;  you  are  not  sick ;  you  are 
getting  stronger;  you  are  strong,  vigorous,  well."  Or 
if  the  person  has  been  hypnotized  the  treatment  runs 
something  like  this:  "  When  you  wake  up,  your  dis- 
ease (whatever  it  may  be)  will  be  gone,  your  organs 
will  perform  all  their  functions  normally ;  you  will  be 
well  and  strong.     Now  mind  !     Go  asleep  ! "     It  is  the 

-15- 


very  same  blade  that  has  done  the  cutting  in  all  ages 
in  the  human  manipulation  of  psychotherapy. 

JN  concluding,  let  me  add  a  few  skeleton  re- 
marks. First,  psychic  healing  is  here  to  stay. 
It  is  a  legitimate  method,  if  legitimately  used. 
But  its  legitimate  use  may  not  be  so  wide  as  many  are 
claiming.  Suggestion  is  doubtless  beneficial  as  long 
as  it  does  not  produce  a  cauterization  of  the  appreci- 
ative and  sympathetic  faculties  of  the  mind,  but  ex- 
perience would  seem  to  point  to  such  a  cauterizing 
as  one  of  the  earliest  ethical  consequences  of  an  em- 
phasized use  of  it.  Hypnosis,  as  an  ally  in  the  use  of 
the  suggestive  principle,  is  open  to  the  suspicion  of 
undermining  the  initiative  and  self-control  of  the  in- 
dividual who  yields  himself  to  it,  and  may  induce  a 
form  of  slavery  to  the  will  of  others  for  which  no 
physical  benefit  could  be  an  equivalent.  Realizing 
this  danger,  the  leaders  of  the  Emmanuel  Movement 
use  hypnotism  as  a  last  resort.  These  and  kindred 
perils  which  gather  themselves  about  the  practice  of 
psychotherapy  advise  great  caution  in  its  exercise. 
Second,  there  is  no  necessary  connection  between 
any  one  of  these  six  modern  methods  of  mental  heal- 
ing, and  religion.  The  Faith  Curists,  Christian  Scien- 
tists and  Emmanuel  Movement  leaders  may  drag  a 
religious  philosophy  into  their  scheme,  but  it  does  not 
naturally  or  necessarily  belong  there,  as  has,  I  think, 
been  shown  in  the  progress  of  this  essay.  Atheists 
and  Pentecostal  Missioners  alike  heal  the  same  dis- 
eases. Not  one  of  these  systems  heals  according  to 
the  method  used  by  Jesus  Christ.  His  cures  were 
instantaneous  and  were  wrought  by  his  divine  man- 
date which  drove  suffering  and  sin  and  Satan  into 
exile  with  its  overwhelming  compulsion.  He  de- 
manded faith  on  the  part  of  the  individual  only  for 

-16- 


moral  and  religious  reasons.  Let  no  manipulator  of 
psychic  forces  lay  claim  to  the  Savior's  position  as  a 
healer  of  disease.  The  Great  Physician  was  no  hyp- 
notist or  suggestor  or  "healer."  To  class  him  as  such 
is  little  short  of  blasphemy.  He  raised  the  dead  with 
the  utmost  ease,  so  that  the  "  greater  works  "  promised 
to  his  disciples  could  not  lie  in  the  physical  realm  but 
must  refer  to  those  spiritual  achievements  inaugurated 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  Dr.  Worcester  and  his 
assistants  have  only  the  highest  of  motives  in  their 
work,  I  am  sure ;  nevertheless  they  have  inverted  re- 
ligious values  and  were  their  plans  to  come  into 
popular  operation  in  the  churches  over  the  land,  it 
would  be  a  dark  day  for  religion,  for  it  would  mean 
what  one  writer  has  called  a  "  massage  gospel," 
whereas  it  is  the  souls  of  men  that  demand  healing 
more  emphatically  than  their  bodies.  Time  is  shorter 
than  eternity ;  this  earthly  tabernacle  must  give  place 
to  the  house  not  made  with  hands ;  this  natural  body 
must  be  superseded  by  our  spiritual  body ;  and  sick- 
ness is  not  so  alarming  as  sin.  Third,  psychic  healing 
should  be  operated  by  the  physicians  and  not  by  the 
preachers,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  latter  have 
neither  the  equipment  nor  the  time  to  bring  to  its 
successful  operation.  It  is  still  false  economy  for 
God's  ministers  to  leave  prayer  and  the  ministry  of 
the  word  to  serve  tables,  even  if  health  is  served  hot 
from  those  tables.  Preachers  must  not  degenerate 
into  pettifogging  physicians,  or  men  shall  ask  for 
bread  and  be  given  a  stone.  Dr.  Buckley,  editor  of 
the  "  New  York  Christian  Advocate,"  takes  this  po- 
sition emphatically  in  an  article  in  the  February  issue 
of  the  "  Century  "  on  "  The  Dangers  of  the  Emmanuel 
Movement."  The  Congregational  Club  of  Boston,  led 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  A.  Gordon  of  the  Old  South 
Church,  has  recently  placed  its  veto  on  the  movement, 
and  that  noted  divine  declared  that  he  had  told  Dr. 
Worcester,  his  long-time  friend,  to  his  face  that  he  is 

-17- 


a  "  quack/'  Indeed  a  growing  chorus  of  protest  is 
rising  from  all  quarters,  and  it  begins  to  be  apparent 
that  the  movement  must  lay  aside  its  peculiar  re- 
ligious claims  and  take  its  place  among  the  other 
methods  of  psychic  healing,  which,  of  course,  means 
its  extinction  as  a  propaganda.  Fturth,  for  a  decade 
I  have  maintained  that  the  time  has  come  when  in 
every  community  there  should  be  a  sanitarium  where 
honest  and  skillful  operators  should  use  psychotherapy 
for  the  relief  of  disease,  and  where  physicians  could 
send  those  of  their  patients  who  need  that  sort  of 
treatment ;  and  that  the  churches  should  give  at  least 
their  moral  support  to  such  an  institution,  not  as  be- 
ing in  any  sense  a  strictly  religious  institution,  but  as 
being  humanitarian  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  and 
thus  meriting  the  endorsement  and  help  of  the  church, 
just  as  gymnasia,  and  baths  and  other  ph}'sical  ac- 
cessories to  the  complete  development  of  men  merit 
encouragement  as  by-products  of  Christianity.  If  the 
Emmanuel  Movement  shall  help  to  clear  the  intel- 
lectual atmosphere  in  the  zone  of  psychic  healing, 
and  finally  crystallize  into  some  such  institutional 
form  as  I  have  just  outlined,  its  brief  career,  which  is 
already  nearing  its  close,  will  not  have  been  in  vain. 


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